Twilight Fox
by StarLion
Summary: Eggman has made a deal with an otherwordly being, and is now it's prisoner. Now, only Tails can undo the damage he's done, with the help of a little imp who calls herself Midna. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: I do not own anything from either the Sonic or Zelda universes.

This is my first crossover. The Zelda universe isn't involved as such, I'm just using the Twilight, and the Twilight Princess story, heavilly edited, to fit how I'm using it here.

Some things, such as Midna's behaviour, may not seem entirely accurate. I'm using a little creative liberty there.

Like all of my other in-progress stories, you'll get updates for this when I've got one to give you - so if you want to be notified, put it on your watch list.

And now, enough of my rambling. Let the story start here.

* * *

Tails lounged in the familiar surroundings of the Green Hill area, letting Sonic's retelling of one of their adventures drift over him. Sonic's audience were some of the kids from the nearby town, who never missed a chance to listen to their hero, Sonic.

Tails resented that while he got a look in on things like this, almost never was he mentioned before Sonic. He wished he could have an entire adventure to himself. One people would know about and remember. One that he'd be known for, instead.

Like many, however... later, he'll soon wish he hadn't wished for that. Always be careful what you wish for. You may get it with unexpected extras.

Amy had come along, mostly to keep an eye on the children. She'd started helping at a preschool, and so like to keep watch over them. It conflicted with her dislike of Sonic's constant exaggerating, but it kept them amused, so she tolerated it.

As Sonic's tale drew to a close, she neatly pointed out it was getting late, and that they ought to be heading back to town.

Sonic leaned back on the rock he'd used as a makeshift chair, and grinned to himself.

"I gotta do this more often. They love it."

"They do, or you do?" Tails asked.

"Both. C'mon, you can't say they don't like hearing it."

"No, but you let yourself get carried away though."

"Mark of a good story teller." He jumped up, impatience shining through as always. "I'm going on back. You comin'?"

"I'm going to stick around a bit longer. You go on ahead."

"Alright, see ya later Tails." Sonic left at his usual dash.

Tails leaned back himself, and looked out to sea at the sun setting, staining the sky shades of orange. It was clear, and the first stars could already be seen starting to poke through the half-darkness.

There was no moon though. New moon tonight. Not that it mattered, Tails reminded himself.

He sighed, and got up to leave. He stopped when he saw a pair of Eggman sentry drones nearby.

Normally, he'd just wait for them to leave, but his earlier resentment was still clear in his mind, and he chose to attack them instead.

Just like Sonic would, he thought to himself.

They clearly noticed him by then, and made to approach. One fell to the ground twitching after a whack from one tail, then stopped move entirely after the other hit. The other made to leave, but it was stopped when it got stomped on.

Tails felt no particular accomplishment for taking out these two sentry bots. They'd just happened to come along at the wrong time. One of them had an odd looking ring on it. It was a dark blue, almost so dark to be black. Tails put it over his wrist, so he wouldn't forget it.

He turned again to leave, but this time was hit off his feet by a shadowy black fist. He landed in the shallows of the water on the shore. Unconsciousness was immediate.

The darkness fell over the land, rolling in with the dawn of the dusk. Then sun had gone down, so the light was gone.

Over Station Square, over Robotnic bases, over the Mystic Ruins, even Angel Island. Darkness fell.

Twilight fell. It came in a wave. It came, and it didn't stop. There was nothing to make it.

A presence within the Twilight watched as it descended. It found something interesting. A fox with two tails. It had the ring on it.

A shadow beast entered the area. It found the fox. It sniffed, examining the find. It found the ring on one wrist. The ring sent a jolt of energy through the beast, and it recoiled, letting go.

Another shadow beast joined it. Somehow, without making a sound, they communicated, and a decision was made. They picked up the fox, and took it away.

* * *

Tails mind shrieked at him that something was wrong, and he was only just beginning to regain consciousness again. He felt... wrong. He didn't risk opening his eyes yet.

He could tell he was laying on a stone floor, that much was clear. He could also feel the ring he'd found, just behind a front paw.

What?

Paw?

His eyes snapped open.

He was in some kind of cell. There were strange black squares that seemed to go from floor to ceiling.

He looked himself over, and realised he was now a wolf. He still had both his tails, he noted. He tried calling for help, but all that came out was a growl.

He almost got to the bars of the cell to look at them, when one of his back paws snagged on something, and he fell. When he looked, he realised he'd been chained to a rung in the floor.

Clearly he was a prisoner here, but why? And what had happened to him?

"Heh... well, aren't we in a bit of a pickle?" an echoing, mischievous voice said, not far from him. He looked up and saw some kind of creature floating above him. It was black, it looked like a very small human. An imp, maybe. Except there were odd green markings all over it, and it wore a strange looking helmet.

Tails growled. It was all he could do, but he tried to make it at least sound menacing. The imp giggled, and settled on the ground before him.

"A little irritated are we little wolfy?"

Tails lunged at her. He decided this imp was definitely female, the high pitched voice made it clear. She jumped clear, and landed beside him. He turned, and kept growling.

"Well, that's just too bad. Because, you know, if you were nice to me... I might set you free." He stopped growling, and she laughed again. "Isn't that much better?" She walked around so she could reach the chain without him in the way. Her arms crossed, one hand over the other, and a dark ball of energy formed as she concentrated. She hurled it at the chain. Tails tried not to flinch back, and ended up rolling over when he did. The chain was broken.

"There! Now, maybe you'll do something for me in return." She floated backwards, somehow through the bars of the cell. "See if you can find your way here. Then I'll help you get out of this place."

He looked around. There were some boxes in a corner, and some hay near one wall. The hay couldn't hold anything, and the boxes were too small. He kept looking.

There! Near one of the bars. Some stones were missing, showing earth. Maybe he could dig through if he used this wolf body's claws and paws.

It took some work, and it was a tight squeeze, but he pulled himself through, and shook the dirt off him.

The imp landed heavily on his back. Instinctively, he jumped lunged and ran around trying to throw her off, but she stayed stubbornly clung to his back. Eventually he gave up.

"That's much better. I think I like it here. Don't you think so, fox boy? Oops! Of course, you're not a fox right now, are you? Well, I like you, so I think I'll help you. I'm Midna. And you're in the realm of Twilight. Now, find us a way out of here, fox boy!"

Tails didn't like this unwanted rider, but she had set him free, and she had said something about helping, so he tolerated her.

There was no way he was opening the door out of here. A door meant for human hands was nothing wolf paws could handle.

In the cell next to his though, there was a small tunnel hidden in one corner. He ignored that Midna would have to get off to go through, and shuffled into it and through. Midna just seemed to flow into his shadow as he did so, and when he left and shook himself off again, she landed on his back.

They were in a sewer system, he reasoned, by the disgusting smell that reached his nose. He realised he could smell far better than normal like this. Maybe being a wolf wasn't so bad after all.

"There's someone I want you to meet," Midna told him, leaning down to his ear. "But first, catch me if you can." She jumped off his back, and floated off down the tunnel, turning a corner.

Tails loped after him. He found he could run faster now, too. This really wasn't all that bad, he decided. As he rounded a corner, he saw her behind more bars. She must have done that trick of going through them again. He cast about, but saw no way for him to get through, so he backtracked to the junction that led down here, and looked down each of the side passages. One had another small tunnel he could go down. There were also some strange black creatures nearby. As he drew close, one jumped at him. He swatted it out of the air with one paw. It struggled under it, until he hit it again, where it seemed to explode into nothingness. He dealt with the rest similarly.

This place was really weird. He followed the tunnel though. As he turned a bend in it, he could see where Midna was. She'd apparently gone though. As he almost left, she dropped down in front of him.

"Boo! Did the detour slow little fox boy down? Ah well. You're not nearly as quick as I thought you'd be." Tails pulled himself out of the tunnel, snarling at her. "Now, now, be nice. I am the only one who can help you, you know. There's some stairs up ahead. Go up them. The person I want you to meet is up there."

Tails did so, and was surprised to find he was in an Eggman base. He padded down the corridor, his claws clicking on the metal floor. There were odd green balls of light floating in mid air. Midna noticed one, floated over and examined it.

"You know, I bet with your wolf senses, you could hear a lot better if you tried. This poor thing's a soul trapped here in the twilight world. Why don't you see if you can see and hear it?"

Tails concentrated, and was almost startled by what he could see afterwards. Everything had taken on an eerie black and white colouration, except for what he could smell – they showed up as colours. The green ball, however had been replaced by a familiar figure – Vector. He listened carefully, trying to make out what Vector might be trying to say.

"Damn shadowy creatures. They just don't die. What are they?" his voice was faint, and echoed, as if it was coming from a long way off.

Midna landed on his back, not so hard now he was cooperating. "You recognised him, didn't you? Well, no matter. He can't see you. None of the souls can. Come on. Almost there."

Tails concentrated and returned to sensing the normal way. He preferred it, it was what he was used to.

The door at the end of the corridor was already open. It looked like it had been blasted open.

Inside was a large room. It looked like the bridge from one of Eggman's Egg Carriers. Eggman himself sat in the command chair. He turned at the sound of Tails' growling.

"What? Oh, Midna. It's you."

"Yup, it's me."

"You found who you were looking for, then."

"Of course I did. Fox boy here wasn't exactly helpful at first."

"Fox boy? Hmm... would you be Tails, by any chance?"

Tails still couldn't speak, so settled for nodding.

"Interesting... well, listen up Tails. I made a mistake. I thought I could make a deal with a being not of our world, and use that to take over our world. You know how I am. It's what I always try and do. He used me though, and now I'm stuck here, in this Twilight world that's covering ours, powerless to stop him. He wants our world for himself. His name, is Zant."

"He looks like a giant squid," Midna laughed. To Tails surprise, Eggman also laughed, and not one of his evil laughs. Being used this way seemed to have changed him.

"He does a bit, actually. Of course, neither of you tell him I said that, if you meet him. Midna... are you sure you can stop him?"

"Of course I can. I just need fox boy to work with me. He's the one that found the ring, after all."

Eggman looked down at Tails' paws, and noticed the ring.

"May I?" he asked, reaching for that paw. Tails let him. He lifted it up, and examined it, nodding. "Yes, it is, isn't it? Tails, please, help Midna. You may be our only hope of stopping Zant. I know you've got no reason to trust me, especially since I'm the cause of all this, but please Tails. This isn't what I meant to happen. You've got to stop him."

Midna glanced up at a faint sound. "The guard's coming. We'd better go."

"Take him back to where you found him, Midna."

"The cell?"

"I know you were looking for him before then."

"Oh, alright. I guess I can get him back to that place. Green Hill, you call it, right?"

Tails felt an odd sensation, as everything around him seemed to turn into those same black squares he'd been seeing all through this Twilight realm. When they cleared, they were back where he'd been knocked out. Midna landed on his back once more.

"Now, don't go getting any ideas," she told him. "Our first task is to get rid of the Twilight here." She sighed. "Pity... it looks so nice today. Oh well. Any ideas on how to start?"

Tails shook his head.

"Didn't think so. I remember seeing some strange bug things stealing light from a creature. Maybe we should look for it."

That sounded reasonable. He loped past the remains of the two sentry bots, and started looking around. He found with the speed he had now, a lot of the places that before, only Sonic could go, now he could go too. Midna didn't seem to know much about his world, so he disguised his enjoying this by keeping exploring, looking for something that might be this creature they were after.

He kept looking and running, dodging neatly around trees and over gaps in the ground. They reached a clearing, and stone-like posts shot out of the ground. He dug his claws into the ground in order to stop in time.

"I don't like this," Midna said. "There's something wrong about it."

There wasn't much else to do though. He made to move forward, but a kind of red barrier linked from one post to the next. Tails' smelled something, he couldn't identify, but it was above him. A kind of portal formed out of the black squares, and three black beast things landed within the barrier with him. The portal disappeared.

"Well, this looks fun," she nervously looked around. "I'm going to let you deal with this, and see you after. Toodles!" She leapt off, and floated outside the barrier.

The beasts closed in on him. He lunged at the nearest, biting at it's neck, and clawing away with all fours. It shrieked in pain, but threw him off. The other two had backed off, so he lunged again. This time, the creature collapsed to the ground. He rounded on the second one, and repeated. When this one fell though, the third cried out, and both of the two he'd felled, got up again.

"Aaagh! What are you doing?" Midna cried. You can't leave one alive, it'll just revive the other two!"

Now she tells me, he thought. He felled one of them again the same way. Now he knew it took two lunges to make them collapse, he had an idea. He still had both his tails. He attacked each of them once by lunging, and then harassed them by biting at their legs, making sure he kept it even between them. Then he drew them close by, turned, and hit them one after the other with his tails, making them both collapse.

The three shadow beasts felled, they all exploded into nothingness, and the portal came back. Nothing else seemed to come through. The posts also sank into the ground again.

Tails panted with the effort from the fight, feeling a surge of glory. He'd beaten them off, as a wolf, an unfamiliar form for him.

Unsurprisingly, Midna found her way to his back again. "That was some nice thinking. I thought they'd cornered you for a moment there."

Tails made as if to shake her off, but it was more meant to show he knew she was joking. He spat out the bland taste the creatures had left in his mouth, and then ran on.

He had no idea what he was looking for, until he passed a lake fed by a water fall.

"Wait, young fox," a faint voice called him, as he passed. "Come back to me."

He turned and looked around. No one was there. A small beacon of light seemed to glow feebly nearby.

"These creatures of the Twilight... they have taken the light from me. You must get it back, and fill this vessel... with the Tears of Light they will drop. When it is full, return to me.... then I can restore the light to this area. Use your... wolf senses, to track them down. You'll never see them... if you don't use them."

The light faded, leaving a kind of stalk of tree with empty pods attached. Midna snatched it.

"You beat 'em, I'll collect 'em. Deal?" He nodded. "Well, let's get too it then. This thing looks like it's got eight pods. So I guess eight of those weird bug things I saw."

* * *

A/N: Well, that's all I've got for now. I'm working on it when I get the ideas. Hope someone finds this interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This is the second somewhat tentative chapter of the story. In order to keep down on repeating myself, I won't repeat the first chapter's disclaimer - it might as well fit the entire story.

Compared to my other stories, there's a lot less dialog here. I'm trying focusing on what happens instead of what's said.

As said before, I'm taking the main story of Twilight Princess, and changing it a lot to work my way - such as for example, Link goes back to Orden as a wolf, and then clears the Twilight, while here, it's the other way around.

A lot of things are going to differ between the two. After a bit, it'll probably deviate a lot - I've only played up to a certain point in the game, so after then, it'll work from what I read in various sources.

Now, enough of my rambling. Time to get back to the story.

* * *

Tails wasn't sure if he liked the extra wolf senses. On the one hand, his sense of smell was such that he could practically see scents. On the other hand, he couldn't see normally as far when he did, and everything he could see was a mixture of blacks, whites and greys. It gave everything an eerie look.

The bugs showed up clearly while he looked at them this way. If he went back to normal senses, they vanished.

He tracked one, silently placing one paw after the other on the ground. It hadn't noticed him. It sat on a rock, motionless.

Suppressing the instinct to growl – a wolf instinct that seemed to come with the body – he drew close, then lunged.

The bug, like a lot of life within this Twilight world, exploded to nothing. A small ball of light appeared after it. Midna caught it in the vessel.

"That's another one down. Three left."

Tails paid no attention. There was another one just ahead, it'd been startled by the noise, and was running toward a cave. Since it had already seen him, there was no point in stealth this time, so he pursued. It climbed up the wall, and out of reach.

He rammed the wall hard, hitting it with a crack. His head spun slightly from it, and a sharp pain lanced through him, but the bug fell onto it's back, legs kicking wildly. A swipe from a paw dealt with it too.

One left. He knew where it was, he'd seen it earlier. It was clung to the top of one of the several loops that Sonic was often seen running around.

He turned off the wolf senses – he'd need to know where he was going for this. He knew which loop, and made his way to a point distant from where it started, making sure he had a clear line to it.

"What are you, crazy? You'll never manage that!" He ignored that.

Wolf senses on again, he charged. He wasn't going to try and reach it, instead he slammed against the side of it again. The bug definitely noticed, and started running down the other side. Tails leapt over to there, and rammed that side. It fell, and a lashing from his tails eliminated it too.

"Well, I guess even you can be smart sometimes. I would never have thought of that." He growled playfully back at her, and she laughed. "Come on. We've got to get back to that light thing."

They turned to leave, and as they entered another clearing, the familiar stone posts shot up again.

Midna didn't leave this time.

Four of the beasts came through the portal this time. Several of the stone posts seemed to block off an area, where one lurked by itself.

One swung a long arm at him, and he jumped back, into another, which also swung. He barely dodged, Midna having to jump to avoid getting hit herself. She hurled one of her dark energy balls at it, making it collapse. If she could do this, why didn't she before?

He dodged the two left, and made to aim for the one blocked off, avoiding the barriers as he went. It noticed him almost immediately, and made to attack. It was interrupted by a lunge. This time, he held on with claws digging in while he bit and tore away at it. It couldn't throw him off, and being lashed by the tails seemed to enrage it all the more. Without being able to remove it's attacker though, it easily fell before him.

Two left. He repeated his earlier tactic, harassing their flanks, then hitting both together.

They vanished, and another portal formed above them. The stone posts retracted again.

"You're getting good at that, you know. I'll almost be out of a job if you get too good."

The lake was just ahead. He padded over to it, wondering what to do next.

Midna took the vessel to the feeble light they'd seen, and poured the 'Tears of Light' into it. It blazed forth, renewed, and it blazed forth in the form of a stag.

"I am the first of the spirits of light," it explained. "You've helped me, and so I shall help you. But alas, I am not as yet at full power... it will take time before I can restore your form. For now, I can only drive back the Twilight covering this part of the land."

"And I was so enjoying it too," Midna pouted.

"Return to me at dawn, heroic fox, and as the morning light boosts my power of light, I shall return you to normal. Hear my plea, however, and find the other spirits of light, that the beasts of twilight have stolen the light from. If they too have been restored, then our combined light can push back the Twilight."

The stag faded, but the patterns on the rocks lit up. No one had ever understood what they were for, but now they lit up, the Twilight receded passing him by. Midna jumped into his shadow.

"Don't think you've gotten rid of me that easy, fox boy. You'll need me still."

The squares, which he now assumed were bits of Twilight, vanished, and Green Hill returned to normal.

Except for him. He sighed, wishing he'd gone back too, but knew the reason why. And he really didn't mind it too much. It wasn't bad, like this.

It was night now, and only faint light showed from the stars. Hardly enough to see by, but his wolf senses, even when not actively in use, more than made up for that.

He decided to head to the town, and check up on everyone else.

Along the way, an armadillo stopped him, surprising him that it could talk clearly.

"Hey, wolf!" it called. "You heading into town?"  
Tails nodded, not sure if he could talk back to it.

"Go careful when you're there. Them humans get uptight about animals they think are dangerous. Watch out for the blue hedgehog too, he's too fast even for you." Tails grinned. Of course, Sonic wouldn't recognise him, none of them would. He nodded again, and tried to thank the armadillo, but again, he only growled. It seemed to get the idea though.

"Don't mention it. I'm off home before the mate finds out I've sneaked off again." It rolled up and left.

His shadow shifted and formed up in front of him as Midna. She was partially see-through, like a ghost. "Well that's useful to know. You can talk to animals you couldn't before. So what are you gonna do in town? Check on your friends?" Tails nodded. "Well, just don't forget that advice – they probably won't even know it's you." He'd already thought of this, so just snapped playfully at her. So long as she was going to tease him, he'd tease her back. She tapped him on his nose, "Be nice, wolfy," she grinned, then returned to his shadow.

Most people in the town were sleeping already. He made his way through the streets, making as little sound as possible.

He spotted Sonic's home. A light was still on upstairs. He climbed a pile of crates and boxes in the alleyway beside the house until he was beside it and crouched so he wouldn't be seen. He risked a glance in.

Knuckles was there, talking to Sonic. Normally, he'd never eavesdrop, but they'd never know... and it was rare for Knuckles to actually visit Sonic's house.

He switched to his wolf senses, taking advantage of the enhanced hearing, and settled down to listen.

"I don't know Sonic, it's not like him. He'd tell us."

"He's more independent now. Even you said that."

"Yeah, but he always lets someone know."

"So what do you think happened?"

"Eggman, maybe?"

"He's not been seen for ages."

"All the more reason to suspect him up to something."

"Nah, we'd see his robots if he was."

"I'll check the workshop again, but if he's not there, I'm going back to the island."

"Nah, leave it to me, I'll check up on it."

Tails realised they were talking about him. Of course he told someone when he was going, it was a habit Sonic had got him into. Obviously, because Sonic thought that Tails hadn't returned yet, they were worried.

They both left, Sonic turning the light out after him. A few moments later, he heard the front door close. He stayed still, making as little noise as possible. Reverting to normal senses, he saw Sonic dash past headed for the workshop. Knuckles paused as he passed the alleyway. Tails held his breath, hoping Knuckles wouldn't notice him.

He looked around, seeming to see nothing. Then he seemed to notice something in the alleyway.

Tails fought a wave of sudden terror – Knuckles wouldn't recognise him, and would probably attack him instead.

Knuckles stepped down the alleyway, noticing something on the ground. Tails saw it too. A paw print he'd left in some dirt.

"What's this? It looks fresh." He looked up and saw Tails crouching. "Oh, so that's what I saw! What do you think you're doing?"

Tails didn't stay around to find out what would happen. He leapt over Knuckles head, and ran down the streets.

"Hey! Come back here!"

Knuckles could keep up with him, using his gliding and wall climbing to take any shortcuts. He wasn't a regular visitor to the town though, so Tails had the advantage – he knew where he was going.

He forgot keeping quiet in favour of running.

Midna reappeared, bobbing along beside him. "What _is_ going on here?" She looked behind and saw Knuckles. "Oh. He doesn't look happy to see you. You didn't get caught did you?" He snarled at her, and kept going. She sighed and returned.

Knuckles hadn't shown any sign he'd seen Midna – maybe she appeared only to him? - so when he's snarled at her, he assumed that Tails was snarling at him.

"Oh, you don't get away with that!"

Knuckles took another shortcut, and landed in front of him. Tails turned, skidded, and headed back the other way, lashing out with his tails as he did so. He felt them hit something, and heard a grunt.

Tails was getting a little desperate. He knew the Echidna wouldn't give up, and if he'd just hit him, he was going to come after him for certain. Tails hadn't wanted to get hit though, so lashed out in order to protect himself.

He kept running, aiming for his workshop, then remembered Sonic would be there and changed to head back to Green Hill. He'd have to take his chances there.

Sure enough, Knuckles pursued, clearly annoyed now. "I'll get you for that, you two tailed wolf!" Realisation dawned on him. "Two tails? Hey, wait a moment!"

Terror of what might happen had gripped him though, and he ignored Knuckles.

He stopped paying attention to where he was going, and just kept going. He didn't want to get in a fight with Knuckles.

Sonic had apparently heard the commotion, and appeared in front of him. Once again, he skidded to a halt, scrambling to get grip and change course again, but with Knuckles behind him, there wasn't one.

Sonic was ready to fight, but Knuckles stopped him, "Wait!" he called.

"Huh? What're you doing, Knuckle-head?"

"Look at him, Sonic."

"He's a wolf. With two tails."

"Exactly. Two tails."

Sonic stepped in front of the panting wolf. "Tails?" He couldn't say anything, of course, so he settled for licking Sonic's face with his tongue. It was long and wet, and he pulled back from it, but laughed. "Yeah, that's Tails alright. What happened to you?"

Tails shrugged. What could he say?

"I don't think he can tell us anything as he is, Sonic."

"Huh. Guess you got a point. Where'd you find him?"

"He was hiding outside your window. I saw him as I left."

Sonic looked at Tails with a raised eyebrow. "Listening in?" Tails somehow managed to look embarrassed, even though it's difficult for a wolf to do so. He felt better when Sonic laughed. "Well, we were only talking about you. I guess you probably heard that." Tails nodded, and Sonic rubbed his head sympathetically. Somehow it helped.

Knuckles took a few moments to recover from the chase he'd been led on. "Well, I'm going to head back. You're a fast one like that Tails. You gave me a good chase. I'm going to get some rest." He put a hand on him for a moment, then left.

"So, what do you wanna do Tails?"

Tails still couldn't really say anything, so he shook himself off, and padded off a ways, looking back at Sonic.

"You want me to come along? Where ya going?" Tails gave a broad grin, one that only a wolf could pull off, and loped off. Sonic ran to keep up.

He was planning on heading to his workshop, and curling up in front of the heater. It was a cold night, he realised, even with his fur.

They rounded a corner, and headed up toward the only building there. Tails' workshop, of course.

"Ah, I see what you're up to. Lemme go on ahead and open the door for ya." He felt a slight pang of regret, that he'd felt so bad about Sonic taking all the fame from everything. For all of that, Sonic always helped out if he could.

He padded in. From this perspective, everything loomed over him. He was closer to the ground, so everything seemed slightly bigger. Sonic followed him as he picked his way through various machines, tools and half finished experiments, until they reached his heater. He yawned, and curled up.

"Yeah, I guess after a chase with Knuckles, you would be tired. Mind if I stick around? Just in case ya need a pair of hands."

Tails licked at him again, and Sonic drew back laughing about it once more. He rubbed Tails' fur a bit, then stretched out on Tails' couch.

Midna popped up again. "Nice of them. You've got good friends. I almost envy you." She looked at him almost wistfully. "Sleep well," she said finally, before returning to his shadow.

* * *

Sonic was woken during the night by sounds from Tails. He fidgeted in his sleep, as if uncomfortable, and his tails twitched as if agitated. It was hard to tell what he was dreaming.

Unsure of how to help, he settled for scratching behind the ears. It seemed to help, as he settled down again.

A/N: That's all for now. This is exactly as I'm coming up with it, only changes being more ideas. I'm still working on it, so don't panic if you want more. It'll be along before long.  



	3. Chapter 3

A/N: You know I'm not going to repeat my disclaimer. So here's my comments as usual.

The white (some say he's golden, but I say white) wolf of the Hero's Shade in the game makes his appearance here. He has a different purpose this time.

I don't know if he'll return though - a lot of this is just exactly as it flows to me. And sometimes, it really does just seem to be a flow of ideas.

Enough of me. Enjoy.

* * *

Tails dreamt. He seemed to be on a clifftop, overlooking an old style castle. Another wolf stood on another clifftop, overlooking from the opposite side of the castle. It was pure white, and like a normal wolf, only had the one tail. He got the impression of age just looking at this strange wolf.

The wolf howled, a tune that was unfamiliar, yet somehow he knew it already. It stopped, then repeated.

Tails listened, and then howled along with it himself.

When they both finished, he heard the wolf's voice. "Remember this song. Reawaken the sleeping spirits."

* * *

Tails woke up, and yawned. Sonic was sleeping on his couch. He made to wake him up, and then remembered in time he was still a wolf, realising he missed his own form. He tapped his shadow, as if it would call Midna, but there was no response.

He decided to find something to eat. With some effort, he managed to push open to door to his fridge, and tried to think of something he could take easily.

There were mint candies, and chilli dogs – with extra cheese, of course. Two of his favourite foods.

He had to pull himself up on back paws to reach them, and with some effort, managed to get a chilli dog. It wasn't exactly the best thing to eat, but it helped.

Sonic had apparently heard him in the fridge, and came in, rubbing blearily at his eyes.

"Huh? Oh, it's you. You coulda asked me, you know." He stopped. "Wait. Sorry. I forgot. You can't at the moment." He saw the remains on the floor. "I see you got something though." Tails just licked around his muzzle, where some taste still remained. "So what're you gonna do?"

Tails used his tails to point outside. Now he'd had something to eat, he decided it was time he'd visit the stag spirit, and see if it could help. Dawn had passed, but he hoped it didn't matter.

He and Sonic ran directly from the town, through the landscape back toward Green Hill area. Sonic was still faster, but Tails could keep up better.

Sonic didn't know where they were going, so Tails once again had the advantage. Tails made to head one way as Sonic moved ahead, and turned sharply to go the right way.

"Hey! No fair, Tails!"

They finally arrived at the lake.

"So what're we doing here?" then he noticed the lit up carved markings. "Hey, when did that happen?"

Tails looked over at the beacon. It was still burning brightly. He had no idea how to bring out the spirit in it. He tried growling at it.

"What's up?" Sonic saw the beacon and looked. "It's just some kinda torch. It's not like it'll sing back at ya."

Sing. The wolf he'd dreamed about had said to remember the song, and reawaken the spirits. He howled the song it had taught him, and the stag blazed forth again. Sonic stepped back, at a loss for words.

"Welcome back, young fox," it said, clearly stronger. "I have been waiting for your return." Tails sat on his haunches, and listened. "You have been told that the Twilight being Zant is responsible for what has happened. As you are, you cannot stand against him. Your only chance is within the Fused Shadow – ancient and dark magic that is risky to use. It's parts have long been sealed away, but if you restore them, and push back the Twilight at the same time, you'll have your chance.

"Now, let me restore you to your natural form... do not forget what I have said."

The stag's light lost it's form, and engulfed him, then returned to the beacon.

Tails sighed, relieved. He was himself again. Strangely, he found he now missed his wolf form. Like this one, it had it's better points, and he liked some points about it.

"Looks like you're back to normal now,"

"Yeah... thanks for your help last night. Sorry about the eavesdropping. Knuckles doesn't normally visit you."

"He came to see you, when you weren't there, he came to me. You gave him a nice chase. I was watching. You really ticked him off."

"I was afraid. He didn't recognise me, and I didn't want him to attack me."

"Makes sense. So, what was all that about twilight and that Zant?"

Midna popped up. Sonic clearly couldn't see her. "None of them know, by the way. It's impossible to tell unless you've got some link to the Twilight. Like that ring you have." Tails made out he was thinking while he listened. "By the way, I prefer you as a wolf."

He swiped at her, making it look like a stretch, and she retreated into his shadow, laughing again.

"It's something I heard while I was a wolf, a theory about how I got changed. I don't know any more than that." He decided not to tell Sonic. If Midna was right, and Sonic couldn't tell anything about the Twilight, then it'd sound like he was crazy.

"Well, alright. What're ya gonna do now?"

"Go back to my workshop, and go back to work. I got some new ideas again."

"You want me to tell Knuckle-head he can stop by again?"

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll find out what he wanted."

Sonic grinned at him slyly. "You ain't gonna change back into a wolf again on us are ya?"

"I don't think so, no."

"Don't bet on it," Midna's voice came from nowhere.

* * *

Tails had worked on some of his projects, and made a few repairs, but he heart wasn't in it. He'd modified the front door so that if he had to get in again as a wolf, he'd be able to.

Midna apparently sensed this, and jumped out.

"What's with you? You've been so grouchy since you got changed back."

"I've been thinking about what that thing said. The fused shadow."

"Let me worry about that. All you've got to do is find them. I don't want Zant getting any more powerful than he already is, and you don't want him controlling your world. So you find them, and I'll keep them safe."

"Where do we start finding them?"

"You start by looking for Twilight where you've cleared the Twilight. Which means somewhere here in Green Hill, there's an area not cleared up."

"So we just get the bit of Fused Shadow, and that's it?"

"Oh, there's probably something more to it than that. You'll do fine, I'm sure. You're smart."

"Thanks."

"Well, you are. Your solution to that last bug was neat."

"It just worked." Tails sighed again. "What would make me go back to being a wolf, Midna?"

"Going into an area where you've not helped those light spirit things. Though, rumour has it that there's an artefact that might allow me to make you change whenever I want." She grinned mischievously at this.

"You just want your own ride around," he teased her.

"You're just more fun as a wolf."

"Hey, Midna? Do you think I could make a machine that would locate these shadow pieces?"

"Well, you could, but what would be the point? You already know what to look for – Twilight areas where you've cleared them."

"It might show us a different way there."

"You're lazy."

"I'm an engineer."

"So you make machines to do stuff for you, so you can be more lazy, then."

"Hey!" He swiped at her again. He missed, of course, but he wasn't trying to hit her. "Alright, we'll go looking then."

"That's a good wolfy," she said affectionately.

* * *

Tails flew over Green Hill, looking for any tell-tale signs of Twilight. There didn't seem to be any, so he landed the Tornado, and started looking in more detail.

"Try looking in those caverns," Midna told him. "They're hardly likely to be in plain sight."

"Wait, those aren't caverns. That's an old Eggman base."

"That guy we met who started all this?"

"Yeah, him."

"So?"

"It couldn't be there... could it?"

"You tell me. Go have a look, wolf boy."

"I thought it was fox boy?"

"I thought you preferred being a wolf?"

"Touché."

He landed in front of the only remaining door that wasn't damaged. It still didn't open.

He ripped open a panel beside the door, and re-wired it. The door shifted open.

"Well, I guess even engineer's are useful when they're not playing wolf."

"Oh hush. It looks like you were right." The inside looked normal, except for the squares of Twilight that he'd seen earlier.

He walked on inside, cautiously checking everything as he went. It was dark inside, with flickering lights and sparking electronics. It looked like something had torn through the place. There were periodic rumbles from deeper within the crippled Eggman base.

"Creepy," Midna commented.

"That describes a lot of what Eggman tries."

He continued it, glancing around doors into empty or trashed rooms. Metal crates lay slashed apart, as if they were made of paper. Robot parts were everywhere. Destroyed sentry drones, and a lot of old E-100 series parts.

They appeared to have taken massive damage.

In one room, he found one behind the remains of a crate, still just barely functioning. Tails examined it, then began to repair it, enough so it would be able to commune again.

"What happened here?" he asked it.

"Attacked," it responded weakly. "Berserk robot. No chance to fight. Tried to but all destroyed." It's eyes flickered. "Critical damage. System shutdown. System shutdown." It deactivated.

Tails grimly pressed on, unnerved by the statement. The rumbling grew louder, this time shaking everything around him. The damage to the structure grew more and more severe as he trekked deeper into this labyrinthine fortress.

A makeshift torch was fashioned from various parts left around. It wasn't perfect, and certainly not his best work, but it provided some light.

He found some stairs. Normally they'd be moving, but the power lines here here were totally destroyed. The only light came from his torch.

"I can feel something evil up ahead. Be careful Tails." It was the first time she'd used his normal name - well, nickname, anyway - directly to him.

The torch cut out at the bottom. Two green, circle lights cut through like lasers. A real laser cut the wall behind him, and he was sealed into the room. The laser also apparently triggered the circuits activating some lights again.

It was Metal Sonic. A bug like the ones that had taken the Tears of Light was clinging to his head.

He roared incoherently at him, and came charging at him. With no escape, he jumped and flew over, trying to hit the bug as he did so. All he did was enrage the already furious Metal Sonic even further.

Metal Sonic rounded, the jet booster on his back kicking in, and rounded on Tails again.

Tails realised he had no chance against Metal Sonic. Nothing would damage him, and he needed some way to deal with the bug.

His momentary pause gave Metal Sonic the chance to ram into him, and he was thrown into a corner, surrounded by debris. The impact had hurt, a lot, and he groaned trying to pull himself up.

Metal Sonic returned, swiping away. Tails blocked it by hastily grabbing a bar, and putting it in his way. His claws got stuck in it.

Tails desperately scrabbled in the debris for something, anything. He found a chunk of metal. It would do.

He pulled it up and made to whack at the bug with it. Metal Sonic dodged, and Tails struck again. The shoulders began to show signs of damage with each successive miss.

Metal Sonic got the claws free, and raised them to slash at him. Tails made one last desperate attempt, and it connected. Metal Sonic paused. His eyes changed to question marks, showing curiosity, then he collapsed forward. Tails shifted so he wouldn't get any more injured. His heart was still racing.

Eventually, he pushed Metal Sonic aside. The bug was running around the room.

He took the pipe he'd grabbed, stalked it, and gave it as strong a whack as he could. It stopped moving, and vanished, leaving an eerie dark.... thing. It gave him the creeps just looking at it.

"I'll take care of that," Midna said, grasping it. It vanished in her touch.

There was a groaning. Metal Sonic was getting up. They both turned to watch.

He shook debris off himself, and rubbed at it's head. Then he noticed Tails.

"What happened to me?"

"You don't remember?"

"I was attacked by something. That is the last memory I have."

"You went a bit... berserk."

"But you fixed that?"

"Close enough."

"I will help you out of here," he decided. Within moments, the wall chunk that had blocked them off was no longer in the way. He led the way out. Midna glanced at Tails, then returned to his shadow as he followed the robot unsteadily make it's way out.

"I appear to be damaged," he said finally after a time.

"Well, you were kind of attacking me."

"You caused this?" he gestured at his battered shoulders.

"You were trying to slash at me."

He took this in. "I... apologise."

"Don't worry about it. You couldn't help it. Want me to do some repairs for you?"

"No, thank you. My systems do not appear to be impaired. It is superficial damage."

Along the way, Tails noted the squares of twilight had vanished. Metal Sonic appeared to be taking in the carnage he'd caused. He showed no sign of reaction.

* * *

"Hey, wolf boy?"

"What's up, imp girl?"

"Nice work."

"That's all you came out to say?"

"Of course not. I know where we have to clear next."

"Where's that?"

"It's this place you call Station Square."

"We'll take the Tornado."

"No good. The wall of Twilight won't let you through."

"Why not?"

"Because you have to be a creature of Twilight to go through. Or unaware of it, that is. Your friends can freely wander through without noticing the difference – except that life inside the Twilight will seem a bit like a waking nightmare. You, on the other hand, know what it is, have experienced it, and been changed by it."

"You can get me through then."

"Oh, probably, but not your plane. And even if I could, you'd go back to being my nice wolfy."

"I didn't realise that."

"You didn't ask. Going?"

"No need to nag me, imp girl."

"Heh. There's a nice bone in it for you if you hurry, wolf boy."

"Hey!" he swiped at her playfully with a tail, and she returned to his shadow.

He took the Tornado anyway, and landed it as close as he safely could to the wall of Twilight. Which was quite some distance away, on a strip of somewhat bumpy ground near a highway leading into the city.

From above, the other side of the Twilight looked like a permanent midnight on the other side. Everything was distorted though.

As he landed, the wall seemed to thicken and blacken, until there was no way to see anything through it.

He jumped, spun his tails, and flew up to the road leading into Station Square itself. As he got closer, it got eerily dark. When he rounded a corner, he almost fell over in surprise.

The wall wasn't just dark, it had creepy looking patterns in an orange light over it. They seemed to shift around, as if alive.

Midna appeared. "Well, this is it. Once you're through here, you can't leave again so easily. You'll have to clear the area of Twilight. And even then, you may not change back, like last time. Ready to go, wolfy?" Tails hesitated, then nodded. "Wait here then." She floated up to the wall, then through it, leaving ripples on it's surface. He waited. Nothing happened.

He was scared a second time, and really did fall over, when a long orange arm shot out and grabbed him with a huge hand, dragging him into the Twilight.

Midna landed on his back. He didn't need to look at himself to see he was a wolf again. He'd missed this form.

"Well, wolfy. What first? Look for the light spirit here so we can get the vessel, collect the tears, boring, boring, and lose all this lovely Twilight? Or maybe you're going to go looking for the next part of the Fused Shadow like that?" She patted his sides. "Whatever you decide, lets go get on with it, right?" He snapped at her, but loped on down the road. There were souls everywhere. But then, this was a city, after all.

He caught a familiar scent. One he'd never really paid attention to before, but he recognised it anyway.

It was Cream's scent. He decided to use all his wolf senses, so he could see the scent, and followed it.

"Hey, where are we going? A grand tour? Just for me?"

He ignored Midna, and followed it through the streets. It led him to a familiar hotel – it was Sonic's favourite beach resort hotel. He'd once crash landed the Tornado here.

He shoved open the already half-open door, and looked inside. With his senses, he could see Cream's soul. Cheese was floating nearby. He listened in.

"It's so cold... why is it so cold?"

Another soul nearby spoke up. "Miss, it's just the heating. Someone will be along to fix it soon. Don't worry."

"I don't think it is... there's something here." She looked around, and seemed to look directly at Tails. He knew she couldn't see him, but she looked right at him. "I wish Mister Sonic was here. He'd help me. At least then we'd have company. Even Mister Tails would be nice. Just someone who'd be here with me." Tails was warmed by her sentiment. The young rabbit thinking of him made him feel all the more determined to put things back to normal.

Midna noticed. "Someone else you know? Remember she can't see you." She looked more closely at Cheese. "Curious little creature. I wonder what it is. Oh well. No time for aimless wandering. Where to next, wolfy?"

Tails decided this time, to go looking for the piece of the Fused Shadow first. After his confrontation with Metal Sonic, he decided he was much more of a threat in his wolf form.

The problem was, how to identify the place? If it showed up in a Twilight-free area as a place with the Twilight still there, that would make it nearly impossible to find in Station Square and Twilight together.

Then again, it was just as likely to be hard to find the light spirit too – there weren't exactly many springs around here either.

Well, it would probably be with water, or an area with similar markings or carvings to the ones he'd seen back at the Green Hill one. As to the Fused Shadow... maybe Midna would be able to tell when they got close.  
Even so, Station Square was vast. Where to begin?

Tails decided on the emerald coast – the beach of this hotel, and where he'd crashed the Tornado.

The doors leading to it were already open, and the pool beyond had many souls that were probably swimming around in it. He ignored them and loped off down the beach, keeping a close eye out for anything that seemed significant.

* * *

A/N: That's all I've got for the moment. I'm interested to see what you all think of this so far. Ideas are welcome too, though I can't say for sure if I'll use them.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: After battling with the evil Writer's Block, our tale finally continues.

Please, as always, note that I am changing a lot of the original Twilight Princess storyline, so don't point out the differences between the two.

* * *

"So where were you when you lost it?"

"I was in the casino."

"Gambling?"

"What else do you expect me to do there, dance? I was bored."

Tails turned sharply down a side road, heading for Casinopolis, the Casino area in Station Square. Shadow almost fell off, much to Midna's amusement.

"You could have warned me!" Tails hit him with one of his tails lightly, not hard enough to hurt, just playfully.

He rounded another corner, went through the doors into the station, and loped down the stairs to outside of Casinopolis. The doors were locked tight. It did only open at night, and it was – despite it looking like late night – daytime.

"Leave this to me," Shadow told them. He jumped off, and used balconies and ledges to jump up to the switch above the door. Tails had used it before, with Sonic. Why it was there was a mystery.

The door didn't open. Instead, posts came out of the ground. Move shot out of the sign, and surrounded Shadow, preventing him from escaping.

A familiar twilight portal appeared above them, dropping four more shadow beasts. Shadow watched from his temporary prison as Tails dispatched them easily. Now he knew how to deal with them, they were no match.

Shadow dropped down as the posts retracted again. "Impressive. You're a real fighter as a wolf, Tails."

Tails grinned at him with a grin as wide as only a wolf can manage as the door opened.

* * *

Casinopolis was devoid of souls, but then it was normally closed at this hour.

Shadow walked to one side. "I'll wait here for you," he told them, and went off to a slot machine.

Tails sniffed. He could smell two scents that followed each other, one of Shadow, one he didn't recognise. He figured if he followed Shadow's scent, he'd find out what happened.

The trail led him to various tables, machines and areas, stopping at the Nights Pinball table. He'd intended to stop there and try to find out where it went, but the floor dropped under his weight, dropping him into an area he knew as the dilapidated way. He'd found a Chaos Emerald here once before.

The Eggman robots that had been here before were gone. Instead there was a large birdlike... thing which looked like it had some kind of horn for a face. There was some kind of goblin like creature on the ground with a club. It noticed Tails come in, and laughed at him, jumping on the back of the bird. It shook a few moments, then dived at him.

He jumped aside just in time. The goblin thing steered the bird around and back at him.

This time, he lunged at it, biting at the body. It gave a screeching honk of pain, thrashing around, which threw him off.

He repeated it the next time it dived, and this time the creature was thrown off it's back. He lunged at it immediately, some pre-programmed wolf instinct taking over, and bit at the throat, tearing at it. The creature died instantly.

Like everything else around here when killed, it vanished into nothingness.

Midna floated up to the bird-thing, and jumped onto it's back. It thrashed around, trying to throw her off.

"Cut it out! I said cut it out! I'm your master now." It settled. "Think we can use this big bird to make things quicker?" She grinned her mischievous grin. "It won't hurt you... I promise."

She directed it so it picked him up in it's claws, and then flew up the way. He growled up at her whenever she led him too close to a wall or floor.

The bird had to stop before a room he knew was above the bank room. Midna sent it on it's way. It blew an angry note at Tails for hurting it, then left. Midna jumped back on his back, and patted his fur.

"Don't worry wolf boy. I still prefer you as my steed." He nipped near her. "Heh, be a nice wolfy now. I think there's something special about this room."

Tails glanced around. A familiar set of markings, and a beacon were in the room.

"Lemme guess," Midna said to the room. "You want us to retrieve your tears of light, so give us the vessel, and we'll go hunting for you."

The room was silent, but there was a grateful tone to the silence as the vessel appeared before them.

Tails leapt down into the bank room. It was empty, except for a Chaos Emerald... seemingly moving around the room of it's own accord.

His wolf senses told him there was a bug underneath it, and four more around the room.

He made light work of the other four, then chased the last one.

Midna looked at the Chaos Emerald. "Ugh. He wants this thing? It feels nasty. I don't want to touch it."

Tails sighed, sat and howled, hoping it'd get Shadow's attention. It worked.

Shadow blurred in, looking concerned. "What's up? Are you alright?" He glanced down, and saw the Emerald between his paws. "Oh, you found it. Thanks. I found something interesting, by the way."

He led them back out into the main area. There were several Tears of Light floating around.

"I could sense something, so I attacked. Then those things appeared."

Midna collected them. "We're two short," she announced. "Where are we going to find two more?"

"Well, I'm not helping. I'm out of here. This Twilight stuff is depressing."

He vanished with a Chaos Control. Midna looked after him, amused.

"It's not that easy to leave Twilight either. He'll have to wait for us to return the Tears. C'mon, we gotta find them."

Tails started running, looking for anywhere he might find one. He left the Casinopolis, and headed outside, back through the hotel. The entrance to Twinkle park was directly ahead. Maybe one there?

It was difficult to move around inside the park. It wasn't really made with a large wolf in mind.

The doors to the circuit opened, as a soul had just passed through. Then another. Then a whole bunch of them stormed through. Tails listened in.

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm not staying here any more!"

"I want to go home!"

"What was that thing?"

Midna's curiosity was perked. "We should investigate."

He'd planned to anyway. They pushed past the souls, into the waiting area where the carts were.

Posts were already up. There was no barrier. Yet. Six shadow beasts were already there. They looked different. They wore armour. They weren't going to be such easy targets. It looked like the creatures of Twilight were learning.

The bug was surrounded by four barriers. Tails assumed it would become trapped in there.

He padded into the ring, and couldn't help but feel like he was walking into an arena. Or a trap.

The familiar barrier flashed into being almost immediately, and as he thought, surrounding the bug. All of the shadow beasts instantly headed for him.

Tails leaped over one's head, whipping at it with the tails, and savaged it's hindquarters, sending it writhing in pain. A beast behind that one swiped at Tails and hit, sending him flying and crashing into the barrier. It flashed, and he was thrown to the ground.

"Tails! Listen to me. I can charge up some of my power, and use it to help you hit more of them."

He snapped at her, growled, and pointed with his muzzle.

"Alright, I get the idea. I'll use it, but we'll have to get close."

He tried to draw only four of them off, but they were all focused on him. So he let himself get surrounded, and glanced at Midna, concentrating on not getting hit. He felt a great weight as she charged it, and a circle of darkness seemed to surround him.

She released the energy through him, he was sure. "It's all up to you now, wolfy!" He dashed at each of them, slamming them hard. One fell to the ground, defeated, but the rest were still standing. Their armour was useless, however.

He tried to lunge at one, and got swiped by another. These things were quick!

Instead, he leaped over and around them, trying to bite at each of them whenever possible, and trying to avoid getting hit.

Finally, he got it down to the last two.

He lunged between them, raking with his front claws, and whipping with his tails.

It failed. One of them had taken less damage, and survived. It screamed the piercing scream he hadn't heard since the first time he'd battled these creatures. Midna held her hands over her ears.

He growled irritably, lunging at the nearest one that got up and ripping at it with claws and teeth so hard that Midna almost fell off.

The others gathered around again. Midna charged up her attack again.

This time, it finished them all.

Tails swatted the bug with a paw, and stood panting, in part from the fight, and in part from some injuries. There was a trio of slash marks on one flank. Midna collected the Light tear. As she floated back, she noticed it too.

"Oh. Well, it doesn't look to bad. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

He shook his head at her to try to show he knew it might happen. He shook himself , like a wet dog would, and stood up again. She returned to his back.

Tails winced briefly as he took off again, pain lancing through the scratches, but moved on. He couldn't leave to the track – that wouldn't be safe.

The souls at the Twinkle Park Castle didn't seem to be in any kind of panic, so he reasoned there weren't any here, and left.

Shadow was waiting for them when they left.

"How do you get out of here? I can't get through the walls."

"That's because you're not a creature of Twilight. You'll have to wait for us."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were in such a hurry to leave."

"So what have you got left?"

"Just the one bug."

Shadow left once again. It was anyone's guess where to.

Tails decided he'd had enough, and headed out the way he'd came in. Maybe he'd spot one on the way out.

He wasn't wrong, but it wasn't going to be an easy one. It was up on a wall, a long way out of his reach.

Slamming into the wall wasn't going to help, it was too far up.

"So you reckon there's one up there, do you?" Shadow had found them again. He made a ball of mud. "I'll throw this. You guide me from where it hits, and I'll hit it for you."

He lobbed it. It landed a long way below, so he indicated upwards with his tails.

Shadow repeated, this time above and to one side. Tails changed the direction he pointed.

The third one hit almost spot on.

Shadow hit it hard with a Chaos Spear. It only just missed, but it made it drop to the ground. Tails lunged at it, biting.

He hated the bitter taste it left, but it did the job. He licked at the wounds on his side afterwards, they'd flared when he lunged. It was really getting to him. Shadow noticed, but said nothing.

Tails decided to head back to the light spirit. Maybe it could help.

* * *

Tails was having trouble deciding if he wanted to stay a wolf more often. Every time he changed form, he realised there were parts of the other one he liked more.

For now, he was content in his normal form, though the cuts had carried over. The spirit didn't mention anything about it before it vanished. It did, however, warn about a danger to a close friend.

Shadow, once the Twilight had cleared, didn't stick around after Tails thanked him for his help.

He went up to a nearby hospital, and got the cuts on his side checked. They were cleaned with something that stung even more than the cuts had been, then they were closed. They still hurt, but at least they were healing.

Midna hadn't said a word since he'd changed back. He suspected it was because she felt responsible for his getting hurt.

He left Station Square, headed back to the Tornado, and from there back to his workshop.

* * *

Knuckles was waiting for him when he wearily stepped into the workshop.

"You look like you've been in a fight."

"I was," he said, not thinking.

"Oh? Eggman?"

"No, it was just a misunderstanding, that's all."

"You got hurt?"

"Just a few cuts. Nothing to worry about. Why are you here?"

"Sonic told me you said it was alright to stop by again."

"Oh yeah. Sorry, something came up. It's alright now."

"I wanted to talk to you about something last night. Up on Angel Island."

"Something's happened to it?"

"The island's fine. There was some creep that was there, called himself Zant."

Midna appeared instantly. "Zant? Did he say Zant?"

"Did you say Zant?"

"Yeah, Zant. He had two Eggman robots with him, they looked strange, even for Eggman. Dark, nasty works. I took this off one of them. It looks like a mirror, but it doesn't reflect anything."

Tails examined it. It was a shard of a mirror, clearly, cut cleanly like a pizza slice."

"Weird. I'll check it with what I can, and see what it comes back with. What about Zant?"

"Oh, he made some wild claims, told me to help him or he'd take over the world. Like we haven't heard that enough times from Eggman."

Tails put the odd mirror shard through various machines. Midna looked at it closely herself.

"It looks like it could be from... no, that's impossible."

He glanced at Midna. He couldn't say anything; knuckles would notice.

"I think it might be from a relic called the Mirror of Twilight. It needs to be kept safe."

Tails ignored that the machines had given nothing useful, and turned back to Knuckles.

"I think it might have something to do with this Twilight stuff I keep hearing about. Keep it safe for me? I might need it again."

"Sure thing Tails. What are you going to be up to?"

"I'm still trying to find out more about-"

"The Twilight. I get it. So what is it?"

What would be the harm in telling Knuckles? He wouldn't be able to tell. "So far, it sounds like something that's covering the land, making it like a bad dream. Zant has something to do with it, and I think so does my turning into a wolf. It happened again near Station Square."

"Really? What's it like? Turning into one."

Tails shuddered at the thought, not of the changing itself, but from Midna's getting him through that creepy wall. "You really don't want to go through it. Trust me."

"It's that bad?"

"I wouldn't say bad, I don't mind being a wolf. It's got it's advantages. I saw Shadow there, once he realised who I was, even he was impressed by the fighting technique."

"So what were you fighting for?"

Tails realised he'd slipped up. He made up for it in creativity. "Shadow decided to see just how good I was. The scratches are from where I scraped against a thorny bush."

"Huh. Sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There aren't any thorny bushes in Station Square, and you're starting to blush."

"Keep a secret?"

"What's another one?" he shrugged.

"Don't you dare! What if word got out?" Midna stopped him. Tails ignored her, he'd have to explain later.

"You know what I said about the Twilight? It's true. You can't see it unless you know about it, or you've got some connection to it."

"Tails! You stop that!" she snapped.

"Hey, who're you?"

Midna turned. Knuckles could see her.

"Oops. I forgot."

"Knuckles, this is Midna. She's from the Twilight, she's helping me remove it."

"Right... and Zant really is taking over the world."

"He's already part way to doing it," Midna sighed. "Covering it in Twilight, and taking the light from the light spirits hidden around your land."

"And Eggman?"

"He caused it, but Zant used him."

"And Tails' turning into a wolf?"

"Happens when he goes into an area covered by Twilight, or if the light spirit can't change him back again after. That's what happened when he was running from you – we had to wait until morning before the first one could do it."

"Would I turn into a wolf or something?"

"No, even if you could find someone from the Twilight – other than me – to do it, you'd just react the same as someone who didn't know."

"Why not? Couldn't I help?"

"You've got to have a reason for it. The ring on Tails' wrist is part of why he changes."

"Part of?" Tails turned to listen. "What's the other part?"

"You're the only one who could help do it, of course. No one else can touch that ring. No one from Twilight can, because it hurts them. Anyone other than you would have had the same reaction – a short sharp shock."

"But I saw a robot with it before I took it."

"Robots aren't people."

* * *

A/N: I'll admit there's plenty of things I'm missing from the original story, and a lot of things I've deliberately moved.

And now, we'll have to hope that demon called Writer's Block I can defeat once more...


End file.
